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Anton Ponomarev

Anton Ponomarev profile
Not in any ranking or draft
Height: 6'10" (208 cm)
Weight: 227 lbs (103 kg)
Position: PF
Hometown: Astana, Kazakhstan
Current Team: Astana
Win - Loss: 12 - 20

Articles

Roundup: Belinelli Looking for Redemption

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Dec 19, 2006, 03:09 pm
Being only 18-years old, he led Kazakhstan both in scoring (17.4 points per game) and rebounding (9 boards per contest), which isn’t saying much considering the strength of his own team. He’s a 6-10 power forward, still very skinny, immature, but with decent athleticism, some skills and feel for the game. You can see he’s not used to face strong competition by his great struggles playing off contact. He’s a kid easy to intimidate, even when he’s shooting jumpers. Actually, the jumper was his first and most important weapon in the tournament, probably because it’s the better way to avoid physical contact, but it wasn’t really very reliable. He settled for 35% in field goals in the tournament, pretty evenly distributed in 2-point and 3-point shots, both in percentage and attempts. His mechanics looked promising, showing a quick release and a decent form, but still they are not consistent. Also, he sometimes struggled with his shot selection, rushing things too much.

Beyond his perimeter stroke, Ponomarev showed nice handles for a big guy like him, which enable him to attack his rivals, and he was also willing to play in the low post, but he did have little success, not showing much versatility to finish there. On defense, he was regularly outmuscled, sometimes delivered poor positioning and a little bit more of hustle was missed. When it comes to the rebounding department, while he occasionally struggled to secure his own boards, he showed nice positioning in the offensive glass. Anton is a long-term project who surely enjoys nice potential. But for the moment, let’s set clear that we’re not talking about anything close to a big-time prospect.

Marquee Matchup: Yi Jianlian vs. Anton Ponomarev

DraftExpress
DraftExpress
Dec 04, 2006, 02:24 pm
Anton and the rest of Kazakhstan breezed through the first round, having no problems serving up the United Arab Emirates (23 points, 19 rebounds) and Kuwait. The question stood whether Anton was ready for China. Anton answered, but it took a while. Anton, like Jianlian, blossomed more into the second half. One could see very quickly that Anton's ability to run and dribble the ball is great for a big man. The frail 18 year old showed no remorse driving into a sea of Chinese players, getting knocked to the floor and getting to the free throw line 11 times. As the future of Kazakhstan fell on his back, the ball made its way into the hoop. Anton, shooting 9/11 free throws tonight, made some easy 3 point plays. Ponomarev, the #1 scorer in the Kazakhstani league despite just having turned 18 a month ago, is reportedly looking into heading to the United States to find his way into the NCAA. He’s an athletic perimeter oriented big man who can handle the ball well, shoot with range and seems to have plenty of talent--although he still has a ways to go in terms of his strength, defense and rebounding. He averaged 20 points and 9 rebounds in the William Jones Cup this past summer.

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